


Neither Here Nor There

by iamanonjustanon



Series: Love Is Here To Stay [1]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Found Family, Jenny Calendar Day 2020, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24335536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamanonjustanon/pseuds/iamanonjustanon
Summary: Giles got cookies for Buffy, Willow and Xander. But not for Jenny. Certainly not for his library patrons, either.
Relationships: Jenny Calendar/Rupert Giles
Series: Love Is Here To Stay [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1756900
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	Neither Here Nor There

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The_Eclectic_Bookworm](https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Eclectic_Bookworm/gifts).



> Happy Birthday, The_Eclectic_Bookworm! I'm sure Giles would have given you cookies (biscuits!), too.

“Those are _trees_!” Jenny exclaimed in mock horror. “You _cannot_ eat trees, you food _nazi_.”

“ _Miniature_ trees and they are called _broccoli,_ Ms. Calendar—” 

Rupert had been fighting a losing battle trying to persuade Jenny that his broccoli ricotta toasts did not merit her quite dramatic indignation. 

Standing by the circulation desk, they had a good respectable distance between them. Both were talking in hushed whispers, mindful of two freshmen seated at the far end table of the library. The girl looked deeply absorbed in her reading, while her companion idly flipped through the pages of his own book. 

“—and how so very _awful_ of you to insinuate that I have compromised my moral integrity just because I have taken it upon myself to fix you a meal with some semblance of _nutritional balance—”_

“What _balance_? It’s _too_ _green,_ ” Jenny snorted. “It’s practically a forest of tiny trees growing on my toasts. Stick to _grilled cheese_ and you won’t ever hear me complain.” At her words, she noticed the sudden glint of good-natured mischief in Rupert’s eyes and immediately beat him to it.

“Only _normal_ , _no-funny-business_ , _no-tasteless-vegetables-whatsoever_ kind of grilled cheese, Mr. Giles,” she clarified, fixing him with a stare. 

For some reason, Jenny and Rupert were convinced that they were being the benchmark of professionalism whenever they resorted to formalities in addressing each other. As if they were not just bickering about the breakfast that they shared that morning; or as if they did not just arrive together from the apartment they both were living in; or _frankly_ , as if they were not planning to make up and make out (in no particular order) the minute they were alone.

The library doors opened and closed with a loud thud. Rupert winced at the sound.

“Careful with the doors, please,” he greeted the newcomers. 

“Hi, kids.” Jenny said at the same time. Willow instantly beamed at her; Xander wordlessly offered his bag of Combos while Rupert wasn’t looking.

Placing her books on the counter, Buffy grinned. “Good morning to you too, Giles. What’s got your _knickers_ in a twist this early?” then grimaced.

Rupert narrowed his eyes at her. “Kindly keep your voices down, and while you’re at it perhaps a little respect, _if I may_?” he muttered, quickly stealing a glance at the two students still huddled in the corner. “As you all can see we have library patrons at the moment, which is a _rare_ sight indeed. I would _really_ rather not drive them away so soon.”

“Look, at least Buffy picked a _British_ idiom. Took the time to personalise it for you. _Knickers_...and that's _personalise_ with an s, Rupert.” Jenny laughed quietly, sneaking a thumbs-up to Buffy.

“Wonderful. That most certainly _helps_ , Jenny.” He tried to sound annoyed, but he was secretly pleased by how easily they could slip back into calling each other by their first names as soon as the children were around.

“I do my _best_ , honey.” Endearments too, apparently.

Willow cleared her throat. “Sorry, Giles. We’ll be on our best behavior now.”

“Speak for yourself, Will,” Xander said. “And since when do you talk like G-man here? _We’ll be on our best behavior?_ Really? Really? _You just gave me a fright right there, if you must know.”_

Willow frowned at him in response and made a beeline for Jenny instead.

“I told you never to call me that again, Xander. And thank you, Willow, for being the voice of reason as always. But don’t you all have classes...” Rupert squinted at his watch. “...in about ten minutes?”

“Yeah, yeah, we’re going,” Buffy all but whined. “We’re only here to drop off these _inhumanely heavy_ books, then we’re out of your hair.”

“They’re not library properties, are they?” 

“Course not. They’re _ours_ for last period. We don’t wanna carry them in between classes. Perhaps a little mercy, _if I may?_ ”

“Oh.” A pause. “But don’t you have lockers for that?”

“Alright. Stop fussing, England,” Jenny interjected finally, placing a hand on Rupert’s arm. “Buffy, just go put them in his office.” 

Buffy smirked, stuck out her tongue at her Watcher then proceeded to do as she’s told. 

The three lingered for a few more minutes, telling Jenny animatedly about a new board game café that they were hoping to try together. (“ _You can always ditch Giles and come with us, Ms. Calendar.”_ ) Jenny for her part seemed much too eager to do the ditching as “ _you guys had me at board game and good coffee, you betcha we’re going_!”

The friends were already preparing to leave for class when Rupert stopped them abruptly.

“Oh, one moment. I almost forgot,” he rushed to his office and returned carrying three small boxes of homemade cookies. 

The children barely had a second to say their surprised “ _thanks_ ” before Rupert was ushering them out of the door again. “Go on, then. Come on. _Chop-chop_. You’ll be late. Bye now.”

He walked back towards Jenny, face slightly flustered.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Jenny stood to the side with a wide, shit-eating grin. “They get _chocolate_ cookies, while I get _veggies_?” 

The couple were interrupted, however, when they noticed the two freshmen hovering awkwardly before them and just about ready to hand their books for check-out.

Rupert accepted the books and excused himself to start processing their request. Jenny, startled, gave them a small nod of acknowledgment. 

“Here you go. Please do feel free to come again anytime,” Rupert said, smiling a bit. “Thank you very much.”

The boy took the books back, gave one to the girl beside him and kept the other one in his bag. “No free cookies?” he asked, half-jokingly.

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh, I thought the cookies are some kind of a gimmick to get more people to _actually_ borrow and read books?”

“Gimmick?”

“Guess not. So the snacks are exclusively for your kids, huh?” He was now eyeing Rupert and Jenny knowingly.

“W-wha—? They’re...Uh...We’re—”

“Thanks, man. Cool fam.”

Jenny watched their retreating figures. She raised her eyebrow at Rupert, exceedingly entertained.

He shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, those biscuits are _sugar-free_.”

* * *

“Giles’s cookies were _not_ sugar-free,” Xander countered. “No way. They’re _delicioso_ , how could there be no sugar there?”

“Are you _seriously_ doubting _Giles_ as the kind of man who’d make _sugar-free_ confections?” Buffy talked loudly over Xander to make her point. “Because he’s _exactly, precisely, absolutely_ the type.”

“Ooh, perhaps it’s _magical_ in nature?” Willow asked hopefully and with thinly veiled excitement. 

Buffy and Xander were walking ahead of Rupert, Jenny and Willow as they made their way to the parking lot. They were all carrying stacks of Rupert’s Council books and bringing them over to his place. 

The group was almost to the car when the children made a run for it with the keys, leaving Rupert and Jenny behind. 

Rupert saw them first—their two library visitors—heading to the same direction he and Jenny were coming from. Jenny waved at them. 

“Hello, Ms. Calendar, Mr. Giles,” the girl said politely this time. The boy, on the other hand, appeared preoccupied by the trio _chaotically_ fighting over the window seats of Rupert’s Citroën. “Going home?”

“We are,” Jenny replied casually. “Hey, it’s cool seeing new faces in the library. Hope you visit more often.”

The girl opened her mouth to answer when—

_“HUNGRY KIDS ON BOARD! I REPEAT, HUNGRY KIDS ON BOARD!”_

_“Xander! Please...they are still our teachers.”_

_“Well, he’s sorta right; they did promise us pizza before patrol…”_

Rupert looked exasperated but was smiling warmly. “R-right. We won’t keep you. See you both around.” 

Grateful for the _distraction_ , the students left without further delay.

Rupert and Jenny just stood there for a few more moments, decidedly amused by the said _distraction_. They looked at each other with resigned fondness, before walking hand-in-hand towards the car and their waiting passengers.

* * *

As it happened, Rupert never got to see those two freshmen again—save for the time they returned their books—and all his hopes of gaining loyal library patrons that weren’t named Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and Xander Harris were dashed. 

If weeks later he and Jenny both heard persistent rumors about the Sunnydale High School librarian being “nauseatingly chummy” around his “crazy hot wife” and “clingy kids,” or about there being “nepotism” at play where borrowed books were concerned, well that was neither here nor there.


End file.
